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Trivia: Musical Terms

Subject : trivia
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Word to indicate that the movement or entire composition is to be played grandly.






2. Tone color - quality of sound that distinguishes one verse or instrument to another. It is determined by the harmonies of sound.






3. To shift to another key.






4. Eight full tones above the key note where the scale begins and ends.






5. System of notes or tones based on and named after the key note.






6. A canon where the melody is sung in two or more voices. After the first voice begins - the next voice starts singing after a couple of measures are played in the preceding voice. All parts repeat continuously.






7. A symbol used in musical notation indicating to gradually quicken tempo.






8. A direction to play expressively.






9. A separate section of a larger composition.






10. A composition written for a solo instrument. The soloist plays the melody while the orchestra plays the accompaniment.






11. Lowest female singing voice.






12. The tonal characteristics determined by the relationship of the notes to the tone.






13. A line in a contrapuntal work performed by an individual voice or instrument.






14. A large group of instrumentalists playing together.






15. A set of six musicians who perform a composition written for six parts.






16. Pleasing combination of two or three tones played together in the background while a melody is being played. Harmony also refers to the study of chord progressions.






17. The frequency of a note determining how high or low it sounds.






18. One who directs a group of performers. The conductor indicates the tempo - phrasing - dynamics - and style by gestures and facial expressions.






19. Atonal and violent style used as a means of evoking heightened emotions and states of mind.






20. A song or hymn celebrating Christmas.






21. Passage for the entire ensemble or orchestra without a soloist.






22. Piece of instrumental music played between scenes in a play or opera.






23. Pertaining to the loudness or softness of a musical composition. Also the symbols in sheet music indicating volume.






24. A set of four musicians who perform a composition written for four parts.






25. Group of singers in a chorus.






26. Tones used to embellish the principal melodic tone.






27. The keyboard of a stringed instrument.






28. A composition written for eight instruments.






29. The seventh note of the scale where there is a strong desire to resolve on the tonic.






30. Atonal and violent style used as a means of evoking heightened emotions and states of mind.






31. Three to four movement orchestral piece - generally in sonata form.






32. One of the two modes of the tonal system. The minor mode can be identified by the dark - melancholic mood.






33. An instrumental lament with praise for the dead.






34. A melodic or - sometimes a harmonic idea presented in a musical form.






35. An extended cantata on a sacred subject.






36. A direction in sheet music indicating the tempo is to be very fast.






37. A style of male singing where by partial use of the vocal chords - the voice is able to reach the pitch of a female.






38. Three notes played in the same amount of time as one or two beats.






39. Elaborate polyphonic composition of the Boroque and Renaissance periods.






40. A musical theme given to a particular idea or main character of an opera.






41. A musical scale having five notes.For example: the five black keys of a keyboard make up a pentatonic scale.






42. Either of the two octave arrangements in modern music. The modes are either major or minor.






43. A symbol in sheet music that returns a note to its original pitch after it has been augmented or diminished.






44. A single line of music played or sung. A musical sentence.






45. Vocal composition written for three or more solo parts - usually without instrumental accompaniment.






46. Singing or chanting in unison without strict rhythm. Collected during the Reign of Pope Gregory VIII for psalms and other other parts of the church service.






47. Pertaining to the sonata form - a fast movement in triple time.






48. Successive notes of a key or mode either ascending or descending.






49. Time in music history ranging from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th centuries. Characterized by emotional - flowery music; written in strict form.






50. Direction to performer to play a composition in a brisk - lively - and spirited manner.